Velocipede.



No. 670,6I7.

' Patented Mar. 26,.l90l. E. G. LATTA.

VELDCIPEDE. (Applicatioxi filed Dec. 16, 1899.)

2 Shouts-Sheet I.

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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMMIT. G. LATTA, OF FRIENDSHIP, NEW YORK;

VELOCIPEDE.

sPEoIFIcATIoN forming partof Letters' Patent No. 670,617, dated March 26, 1901.

Application filed December 16, 1899. Serial No. 740,499. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EMMIT G. LATTA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Friendship, in the county of Allegany and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Velocipedes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the fitting or connection whereby the lower ends of the frametubes are united and to the hanger'which carries the crank-shaft.

One of the objects of my invention is the production of a hanger which permits the complete assemblage of the hanger crankshaft and bearings before applying the same to the velocipede frame or bracket.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the hanger that the same is securely interlocked with the frame and so that its position can be readily changed for varying the drop of the frame.

The invention has the further object to improve the construction of the hanger and its supporting-bracket with a view of reducing their cost to a minimum.

In the accompanying drawings, consisting of two sheets, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the hanger and the adjacent portion of the frame members, thecrank-shaft being shown in sections and the bearings omitted. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal central section of said parts. Fig. 3 is atransverse vertical section in line 3 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4is a longitudinal section in line 4: 4, Fig. Fig. 5 is a detached end or rear View of the frame yoke or bracket. Fig. 6 is a detached side view of the hanger. Fig. 7 is a top plan view thereof. Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 4, showing a modified form of the yoke and the hanger.

Like letters of reference refer'to like parts .in the several figures.

A, B, and (J are the usual frame tubes or members which meet at the hanger, and D is a yoke, bracket, or fitting which connects the adjacent ends of the frame-tubes. This yoke or bracket is closed at its upper, front, and rear sides and openat its lower side and is preferably provided on its upper, front,and rear sides with projecting tubular lugs or thimbles d d d, which enter the frame-tubes and to which the tubes are brazed in theusual manner. In the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 7, which is the form preferred for ordinary purposes, the yoke D is square or rectangular inform and stamped from a fiat blank or strip of sheet metal. The thimbleopenings are punched in this blank and the metal around the openings is drawn up to form the thimbles, after which the blank is bent to the three-sided form shown in Fig. 4:. 1

E is the hanger, which is arranged in the yoke or bracket D and made separate therefrom, and F is the crank-shaft. drical end portions e of the hanger extend .laterally beyond the yoke D and contain ballalso engage in notches h, formed in the adjacent wall of the hanger, whereby the hanger is locked against lateral displacement in the yoke. The cylindrical end portions of the hanger andthe shaft-bearings are preferably oifset or arranged eccentrically to the flatsided central portion of the hanger, as shown, and the hanger is made reversible in its supporting-yoke, as shown by dotted lines in the drawings, .so that upon giving the hanger a quarter or half turn in theyoke the crank- The cylin:

The central portion of the hanger,

shaft is raised or lowered on the frame and the drop of the machine changed accordingly. In order to lock the hanger in either position, the locking-notches h are duplicated on opposite sides thereof. Before reversing the hanger the clamping-bolts 9 must obviously be removed. The hanger is preferably pressed or .swaged from a piece of seamless tubing of suitable diameter to receive the bearing-cups, and its central portion is reduced tosuch a size as to fit snugly into the open-sided yoke D and made of such length that the shoulders or offsets '0', formed by the enlarged ends of the hanger, abut against the "ends of the yoke. By this construction the hanger is more rigidly secured in the yoke than it would be if held only by the bolts g. As the yoke is also stamped out of sheet metal, the same and the hanger can be produced at comparatively small cost.

The opening in the bottom of the yoke permits the hanger to pass Well up into the yoke, so that the crank-shaft is located about at the intersection of the center lines of the several carrying frame members, thereby improving the appearance of the machine and also enabling the several parts to be made to better advantage.

In the modification shown in Fig. 8 the yoke D and hanger E are oblong in form instead of square. In this case the hanger can only be reversed or given a half-turn, affording but two adjustments-a high and a low one. The square construction of the yoke and hanger shown in Figs. 1 to 7 provides for two additional intermediate positions of the crank-shaft, one in front and one in rear of the central line of the yoke, as shown by dotted lines in Figs. 2 and a.

The crankshaft hangers or brackets most commonly used consist of a transverse tube made in a single piece and having projecting lugs adapted to be brazed to the several frame-tubes. These are either formed with integral. lugs at considerable expense or provided with separate lugs permanently secured thereto. With either of these constructions the crank-shaft and bearings cannot be applied to the machine until after the hanger has been brazed t0 the frame, and the hanger cannot be nickcled except by placing the frame in the nickel-plating solution.

By the use of either of my improved constructions herein shown and described the hanger and the yoke or bracket are made separately, the hanger can be nickel-plated independently of the frame, and the hangercrank shaft, sprocket or driving wheel, and bearings can be completely assembled by the maker of those parts, the frame-builder having nothing to do except to boltthe hanger to the frame after the latter is finished. This effects a material saving both in the manufacture and the assemblage of the parts.

By making the hanger and its supportingyoke of rectangular form the hanger is practically interlocked with the yoke and held against turning, and the clampingbolts g, which receive little strain, can be comparatively light.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination with a velocipede-frame having an open-sided rectangular yoke or bracket, of a rectangular crank-shaft hanger seated in said bracket and constructed to enter the open side thereof laterally, and means for securing the hanger in the bracket, substantially as set forth.

2. In a velocipede-frame, an open-sided hanger-bracket consisting of a three-sided yoke stamped from a single blank of sheet metal and having on each of its sides a pro jecting lug or thimble and provided at the edges of its open sides with perforated ears adapted to receive clamping-bolts, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with a velocipede-frame having an open-sided rectangular yoke, of a rectangular crank shaft hanger reversibly seated in said yoke and having its central portion arranged out of line with its end portions, and means for securing the hanger in the yoke, substantially as set forth.

4:. The combination witha velocipede-frame having members which radiate from a common center, of an open-sided yoke or bracket uniting the meeting ends of the frame mem bers and having an angular bore or seat, and a rectangular crank-hanger seated in said angular yoke and constructed to pass sidewise into the open side thereof, and means for securing the hanger in the yoke, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with a velocipede'frame having an open-sided yoke 01' bracket, of a crank-shaft hanger having cylindrical end portions adapted to receive the crank-shaft bearings, and a reduced central portion secured in said yoke and constructed to enter the same sidewise, the ends of the yoke abutting against the shoulders formed at the junction of the reduced central portion and the enlarged ends of the hanger, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with a velocipede-frame having a rigid yoke or bracket, of a crankshaft hanger having end portions of larger diameter than the diameter of said yoke and a contracted central portion seated in the yoke, and formed of a single piece of tubing having its central portion reduced to fit said yoke, substantially as set forth.

WVitness my hand this 1st day of December, 1899.

EMMIT G. LATTA.

Witnesses:

CHAS. J. RIoE, H. L. BLOSSOM. 

